Dogman
1st September 2011, 09:29 AM
By Steve Campbell
sfcampbell@star-telegram.com
(sfcampbell@star-telegram.com)
"Pork choppers," Texas' newest weapon in the war on feral hogs, will take to the skies Thursday when it becomes legal for hunters to buy seats on hog-hunting helicopters and gun down as many pigs as they can put in their sights.
With more than 2 million feral hogs rooting around the Lone Star State, there will be plenty of targets for aerial gunners willing to pay $475 for an hour of heli-hunting.
Vertex Helicopters is already bringing home the bacon as a result of the measure passed by the Texas Legislature this year.
The Houston-based firm requires shooters to take a $350 hunting safety course before they can book a hunt, said President Mike Morgan, a former Army helicopter pilot.
Sixty hunters have taken the course, and two more 15-person classes are already filled, he said.
"These are people who are really, really serious about shooting things," Morgan said, noting that hunters from New York City, Missouri and Kansas have taken the course, which includes a four-hour class and 30 minutes of learning airborne target practice.
Vertex has secured landowners' permission to hunt on more than 150,000 acres across the state and is negotiating to add another 550,000 acres, he said.
The company has booked more than 30 hunts with a three-hour minimum of flight time. Most shooters are scheduling five hours to six hours, he said.
"In the big picture it's not that expensive," Morgan said. "You have people paying $10,000 for one deer. At $475 an hour, it's barely a drop in the bucket for serious hunters."
'Not a joke anymore'
State Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, who sponsored the "pork chopper" legislation, is all too familiar with the hog problem.
The beasts laid waste to his commercial nursery one night last week.
"They probably did $3,000 damage. It looked like World War II where they went through," Miller said.
He's hopeful the aerial hunts will have an impact.
"It's the most effective means we have right now. They get wise to trapping. Hunters might get one or two a night," he said.
"It's not a joke anymore. They cause almost half a billion dollars in damage in our state. Our wildlife services has been spending $25 million a year trying to control them," Miller said. "It's not just an agricultural problem. Now they are uprooting tombstones in cemeteries; they are damaging golf courses, city parks and suburban lawns."
Until now, only landowners who were suffering property damage from the marauding hogs have been allowed to hire helicopter outfits to pull the trigger. Property owners frequently would band together and get a landowners permit from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that would allow them to hire helicopter companies to kill hogs.
A group of about 125 people with 32,000 acres in Haskell County hired a company that eradicated about 4,000 hogs in less than three years, said Steve Alsabrook, who farms in Haskell, about 50 miles north of Abilene.
"We basically controlled them. We grow wheat, cotton and milo, and it got so bad that we quit growing milo -- it's like candy to them," he said. "We went back to growing crops.
"The coyotes and turkey vultures ate pretty good while we were flying," he said.
In 2010, 14,811 hogs were killed through the program statewide. Airborne gunners dispatched 17,743 hogs in 2009 and 18,578 in 2008, said Harmony Garcia, who handles the 150 or so active aerial permits for the parks and wildlife agency.
"People have been waiting for this. It's going to be interesting," she said.
Carter Smith, director of the state wildlife agency, says feral hogs are almost everywhere in Texas.
"They have become pervasive in the last couple of decades. They are causing great damage. And as a state we have really struggled to control their numbers," he said. "We haven't slowed their progress in any measurable way."
Smith cautions that "our war on feral hogs" is going to be a long campaign.
"The department is supportive of any lawful and ethical tool," he said.
Difficult shooting
Even from 50 feet up in the air, shooting a 300-pound hog that is running 35 mph out of a helicopter that is going between 30 and 65 mph is no easy feat, Morgan said.
"Most people can't hit the target. We've found that less than 15 percent of the rounds hit the target. It's a huge eye-opener, actually it's a punch in the gut, because these people are serious shooters," he said.
Jess Stark, an avid hunter who owns a compressor manufacturing business in Houston, said helicopter shooting is "extremely difficult. It's a lot harder than it looks.
"It's not particularly comfortable. You're strapped in but you are leaning out and trying to get on target. There's a lot of movement. And the field of fire is restricted," said Stark, 75, who is also a firearms instructor for the Harris
County Sheriff's Department. "Afterward, I told the people in the class I think I could nail it down after 2,000 or 3,000 rounds," he said.
Helicopter hunting is also risky, Morgan said.
"It's incredibly dangerous; it's probably the most dangerous method of hunting out there," he said. "You're shooting semiautomatic assault rifles out of a helicopter at altitudes of about 50 feet. There are some major risks here. We can mitigate some of the risk by training people properly.
"You're going to have two types of hunters: cowboys and pros. The pros take things seriously; the cowboys don't give a crap as long as they get to shoot something.
"Our goal is to make sure we don't have a bunch of cowboys jumping in helicopters and going, 'Yeehaw.'"
Will the pork choppers put a dent in the hog population?
Alsabrook, the Haskell farmer, says there will be one way to know.
"They may tell a lot of damn stories, but the proof is going to be in the turkey buzzards."
Steve Campbell, 817-390-7981
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/27/3318555/serious-shooters-are-lining-up.html#ixzz1WidWKJDl
sfcampbell@star-telegram.com
(sfcampbell@star-telegram.com)
"Pork choppers," Texas' newest weapon in the war on feral hogs, will take to the skies Thursday when it becomes legal for hunters to buy seats on hog-hunting helicopters and gun down as many pigs as they can put in their sights.
With more than 2 million feral hogs rooting around the Lone Star State, there will be plenty of targets for aerial gunners willing to pay $475 for an hour of heli-hunting.
Vertex Helicopters is already bringing home the bacon as a result of the measure passed by the Texas Legislature this year.
The Houston-based firm requires shooters to take a $350 hunting safety course before they can book a hunt, said President Mike Morgan, a former Army helicopter pilot.
Sixty hunters have taken the course, and two more 15-person classes are already filled, he said.
"These are people who are really, really serious about shooting things," Morgan said, noting that hunters from New York City, Missouri and Kansas have taken the course, which includes a four-hour class and 30 minutes of learning airborne target practice.
Vertex has secured landowners' permission to hunt on more than 150,000 acres across the state and is negotiating to add another 550,000 acres, he said.
The company has booked more than 30 hunts with a three-hour minimum of flight time. Most shooters are scheduling five hours to six hours, he said.
"In the big picture it's not that expensive," Morgan said. "You have people paying $10,000 for one deer. At $475 an hour, it's barely a drop in the bucket for serious hunters."
'Not a joke anymore'
State Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville, who sponsored the "pork chopper" legislation, is all too familiar with the hog problem.
The beasts laid waste to his commercial nursery one night last week.
"They probably did $3,000 damage. It looked like World War II where they went through," Miller said.
He's hopeful the aerial hunts will have an impact.
"It's the most effective means we have right now. They get wise to trapping. Hunters might get one or two a night," he said.
"It's not a joke anymore. They cause almost half a billion dollars in damage in our state. Our wildlife services has been spending $25 million a year trying to control them," Miller said. "It's not just an agricultural problem. Now they are uprooting tombstones in cemeteries; they are damaging golf courses, city parks and suburban lawns."
Until now, only landowners who were suffering property damage from the marauding hogs have been allowed to hire helicopter outfits to pull the trigger. Property owners frequently would band together and get a landowners permit from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that would allow them to hire helicopter companies to kill hogs.
A group of about 125 people with 32,000 acres in Haskell County hired a company that eradicated about 4,000 hogs in less than three years, said Steve Alsabrook, who farms in Haskell, about 50 miles north of Abilene.
"We basically controlled them. We grow wheat, cotton and milo, and it got so bad that we quit growing milo -- it's like candy to them," he said. "We went back to growing crops.
"The coyotes and turkey vultures ate pretty good while we were flying," he said.
In 2010, 14,811 hogs were killed through the program statewide. Airborne gunners dispatched 17,743 hogs in 2009 and 18,578 in 2008, said Harmony Garcia, who handles the 150 or so active aerial permits for the parks and wildlife agency.
"People have been waiting for this. It's going to be interesting," she said.
Carter Smith, director of the state wildlife agency, says feral hogs are almost everywhere in Texas.
"They have become pervasive in the last couple of decades. They are causing great damage. And as a state we have really struggled to control their numbers," he said. "We haven't slowed their progress in any measurable way."
Smith cautions that "our war on feral hogs" is going to be a long campaign.
"The department is supportive of any lawful and ethical tool," he said.
Difficult shooting
Even from 50 feet up in the air, shooting a 300-pound hog that is running 35 mph out of a helicopter that is going between 30 and 65 mph is no easy feat, Morgan said.
"Most people can't hit the target. We've found that less than 15 percent of the rounds hit the target. It's a huge eye-opener, actually it's a punch in the gut, because these people are serious shooters," he said.
Jess Stark, an avid hunter who owns a compressor manufacturing business in Houston, said helicopter shooting is "extremely difficult. It's a lot harder than it looks.
"It's not particularly comfortable. You're strapped in but you are leaning out and trying to get on target. There's a lot of movement. And the field of fire is restricted," said Stark, 75, who is also a firearms instructor for the Harris
County Sheriff's Department. "Afterward, I told the people in the class I think I could nail it down after 2,000 or 3,000 rounds," he said.
Helicopter hunting is also risky, Morgan said.
"It's incredibly dangerous; it's probably the most dangerous method of hunting out there," he said. "You're shooting semiautomatic assault rifles out of a helicopter at altitudes of about 50 feet. There are some major risks here. We can mitigate some of the risk by training people properly.
"You're going to have two types of hunters: cowboys and pros. The pros take things seriously; the cowboys don't give a crap as long as they get to shoot something.
"Our goal is to make sure we don't have a bunch of cowboys jumping in helicopters and going, 'Yeehaw.'"
Will the pork choppers put a dent in the hog population?
Alsabrook, the Haskell farmer, says there will be one way to know.
"They may tell a lot of damn stories, but the proof is going to be in the turkey buzzards."
Steve Campbell, 817-390-7981
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/27/3318555/serious-shooters-are-lining-up.html#ixzz1WidWKJDl